Walk to School Day comes early for Soldotna & Redoubt Elementary…

Soldotna Elementary Principal Teri Diamond leads the walk to school with Mayor Micciche & family as CES fire truck lights the way.

International Walk to School Day is global event where communities from over 40 countries walk and bike to school on a single day. In 1997, the Partnership for a Walkable America sponsored the first National Walk Our Children to School Day in Chicago. Back then, it was simply a day to bring community leaders and children together to create awareness of the need for communities to be walkable. A few years ago the program came to attention of Sharon Hale at Redoubt Elementary School who joined with Jane Fellman of Peninsula Safe Kids and Soldotna mayor Peter Micciche to use the day to increase awareness of safe pathways and of children who walk to school in our local community, “The event has several different meanings for us,” explained Fellman, as about 30 families gathered at the United Methodist Church to start their walk to Soldotna Elementary, “One to get out and walk is a healthy activity for children and as we head into an Alaska’s dark winter months we want to increase awareness of how we can be seen in the dark so that our children have reflectors on their clothing and that they know to be careful when crossing streets or in parking lots. As we walk today we will also be looking for high risk areas that we may need to do something about.”